


Fear

by Elisara



Category: Tokio Hotel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 04:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/744172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisara/pseuds/Elisara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tokio Hotel is selected as the celebrity contestants to kick off the new season of MTV's ghost hunting show FEAR. But the place they get sent is more than just an old building, and the secrets it hides might be deadly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LiveJournal th_fanfic Geo FQF 2009, prompt 17: Ghost hunting TV shows are all the rage and there is one being done where celebrities join the professionals in haunted houses. For publicity for the new album (in Europe or US - up to you) TH have agreed to do one. Don't care what happens as long as the story is from Georg's POV. (submitted by beren_writes).

"Whose idea was this?" Tom groused, tromping through the knee-high weeds as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. 

"Aww, come on, Tom. It's going to be fun!" Bill said, nudging his twin. "And being chosen as the celebrity team to kick off MTV's new season of _Fear_ will be awesome publicity for the new album."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. A whole weekend in a haunted asylum. Definitely my idea of fun," he said sarcastically. "Weren't you the one who got freaked out when we watched _House on Haunted Hill_?"

"Pfft." Bill waved a hand carelessly. "That was just a movie. And this was a hospital or something, not an insane asylum. Plus, it's not like it's really going to be haunted. This is America, and Americans are lawsuit crazy. They wouldn't take us somewhere that was actually dangerous. Quit worrying so much."

Tom huffed and grumbled under his breath, not quite willing to let go of the subject, but unable to argue with Bill's logic. He watched his twin almost bouncing with enthusiasm and shook his head. "And why, exactly, am I hauling your suitcase _and_ mine?"

"Oh, look!" Bill said, ignoring his brother's pointed question. "There it is." He flashed a grin over his shoulder at his other two bandmates. "It does look kind of creepy, doesn't it?"

Gustav nodded, eyes roaming the impressive facade of the huge main building. "Should be an interesting weekend."

"Don't worry," Georg teased, poking Tom in the back. "I'll protect you from all the ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night."

"Georg, you _are_ the thing that goes bump in the night," Tom shot back.

Georg laughed and sped up until he was walking at Tom's side. "Ok, fine. We'll just get your new little boyfriend to watch your back." He nudged Tom. "If we can get him to quit looking at your ass long enough."

"Fuck off," Tom said, obviously unamused.

"Wait, what's this about a boyfriend?" Gustav asked.

"Oh, that's right. You were over on the other side of the room." Georg gave Tom a mischievous grin, then turned back to Gustav. "One of the camera men has the hots for Tom. Kept flirting with him and throwing out really broad hints about dates. What was his name? Jimmy, right?"

"He was weird," Bill said with a frown. "I didn't like him."

"Jealous?" Georg teased.

"No, Bill's right," Tom said before Bill could answer. "Something was just strange about that guy. I mean, it's not like he's the first male to ever hit on me. Usually it doesn't bother me. But something about that one..."

"...was creepy," Bill finished his twin's sentence. 

"Well, you won't have to worry about him," Gustav said. "They've already wired up the cameras in the building, and the only other cameras will be the ones we have." He paused as they reached the front steps of the building. "Here we are."

"So now what?" Bill asked, looking around for a guide.

"Up there, on the door," Georg said. He jogged up the steps and pulled down a large envelope. A quick rip had it open and he pulled out the papers inside. "It says to follow the attached map to the Laundry Room. That will be our base. We're supposed to put our stuff there and watch the DVD on the computer in that room."

Gustav took the map and studied it. "Looks like it's around that end of the building," he said, pointing to his right.

"Let's go then," Tom said, shifting one of the bags he was carrying. "My arms are getting tired."

The group made their way around the main building to a smaller outbuilding on the north side. Once inside, a quick investigation showed that the place was one large room with a couple of doors on one side. The only furniture consisted of four beds and a table. 

While Gustav checked out the doors, Georg dropped his bag on one of the beds and went to take a closer look at the computer sitting on the table. "Hmm, already booted," he muttered to himself.

"What?"

Georg jumped and spun around. "God, don't creep up on me like that!"

Tom grinned. "Gee, Georg, what's wrong? Already scared?"

"I'm not scared," Georg said, turning back to the computer. "But if you don't quit sneaking up on me, I'm going to put a bell around your neck."

Bill laughed as he walked up beside his twin. "Aww, wouldn't that be cute?"

"Wouldn't what be cute?" Gustav asked, joining them at the table. 

"Nothing," Georg said, heading off the jokes he knew were coming. "What's behind the doors?"

"One of them leads to a bathroom. Sinks, toilets...no shower though."

"Oh, great," Tom said, making a face. "We'll never get any sleep with Georg stinking up the whole place."

Georg just rolled his eyes at the teasing. "What about the other one?"

"Locked," Gustav said with a shrug. 

"Hey, isn't this the bag they told us about?" Bill asked, picking up a small black pouch. 

"Oh, yeah," Georg said, taking the pouch and pulling out the four black envelopes from inside. He fanned them out in his hand and held them out to Bill. "Pick one."

Bill snatched an envelope and ripped it open. "Yes! Red!"

Tom rolled his eyes at his twin as he opened his own choice. "You're so predictable."

"You're just jealous that I got red and you have to make do with yellow," Bill sniffed.

Georg exchanged a long-suffering look with Gustav before looking at the slip of paper in Gustav's hand. "You're blue? I'm green." He turned back to the computer. "Well, I guess this is the next step then," he said, mousing over the Play button and clicking. Immediately a deep voice filled the room.

_"Welcome to Waverly Hills Sanatorium. The Sanatorium was built back in 1926 as a place to care for the many victims of an epidemic of tuberculosis which was running through the area at the time. Tuberculosis was a very serious disease and people who were afflicted with tuberculosis had to be isolated from the general public and placed in an area where they could rest, stay calm, and have plenty of fresh air. Sanatoriums were built on high hills surrounded by peaceful woods to create a serene atmosphere to help the patients recover, and Waverly Hills was considered to be the most modern and well-equipped of its time._

_"But along with the gentle, natural remedies of bed rest, fresh air, and good food, there were also a number of bizarre, experimental treatments performed on some of the patients, many of whom did not survive their time as test subjects._

_"At its peak, the death rate was said to have been one per hour. Many thousands of patients came in through the front door of Waverly Hills. And many thousands never left again, at least not alive. It is said their spirits still walk these halls._

The voice on the video changed from the deep voice of the initial speaker to the voice of a woman.

_"I can't tell you how much this building bothered me during the course of my psychic research. I can't say that there's necessarily anything evil here, but I did pick up on so much pain and despair that it made me nauseous._

_I feel many souls trapped in this place, both old and young. Some of them even feel like children. They're so lost, so lonely. And some of them are very angry."_

The original voice returned. 

_"Your objective over the next two nights will be to determine whether Waverly Hills is haunted. This computer will lead you through the investigation with a series of dares. You will explore various areas where paranormal activity has been reported - the schoolroom, the kitchen, the fourth floor surgery, the morgue, room 502, and the Death Tunnel._

_"You must begin now. Good luck."_

Georg took a deep breath and looked at his friends. "Here we go."

_"Dare number 1. Red must proceed to the kitchen and search the area, returning with anything of interest he finds. Green will navigate."_

"Sweet, that means I'm off the hook," Tom said, flopping down on one of the beds. 

Bill made a face at his brother. He struggled into the harness that held the video camera, and hooked up the headset before grabbing his flashlight and heading for the door. 

"Hey, if that _anything of interest_ happens to be a hot chick, tell her I'm waiting for her," Tom quipped.

Bill just snorted and let the door slam behind him. 

"Ok," Georg said into his radio, looking at the map on the screen. "There should be a big door in front of you. Do you see it?"

"Yep," Bill answered, his voice sounding muted and tinny over the small 2-way. "Go in?"

"Yes, go in that door and turn to your left," Georg said. "Follow the hallway all the way down, past the front doors. About 3 doors after that there should be a set of double doors on the left. That should be the kitchen." He let go of the radio button and threw a look over his shoulder to where Tom was lounging. "You know, if you piss him off, we're going to end up spending two entire days with a really bitchy roommate."

Tom grinned. "Nah, Bill can never stay mad at me for that long."

"Excuse me?" Georg gave Tom a look that was blatantly skeptical. "I seem to remember a time in Vienna when you two didn't speak to each other for three days. And David had to pay for a lamp Bill broke because he was so mad at you."

"The lamp was an accident," Tom said defensively. "And that was different. We were just kids."

Georg started to come back with a sarcastic reply, but just then the radio crackled. 

"We're here."

"Ok, go in and look around," Georg said. He waited for a few minutes, but nothing more was said. "Do you see anything?"

"A lot of dirt," Bill said. "Some big ovens and stoves. Lots of counter space if you want to do some cooking for us this weekend, Gustav."

"Yeah, right," Gustav said, leaning over Georg's shoulder. "Why don't you and Tom whip up some pasta sauce instead? That will scare away anything, dead or alive."

"Hey!"

Georg had to grin at the way the complaint came in stereo, both from his radio and from the twin behind him. "Well, I don't think you're supposed to bring back dirt. Do you see anything else?" 

"Hmm, I'm looking. Some old pots. Eww, a really big knife. That's probably not safe to just have lying around. You think that's what I'm supposed to bring back?"

"Does it look new?" Georg asked.

"No. It's all rusty. Oh, wait!" There were sounds of banging and bumping, then Bill's voice again. "I think this is probably what I'm looking for."

"What is it?" Georg asked.

"Ummm, hell if I know. Some sort of equipment? I think it's probably -" 

Georg frowned at his radio. "Bill?" When he got no response, he spoke again. "Bill, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just..."

"Just what?" Georg asked.

"For a minute there, I could have sworn I smelled fresh bread," Bill said, his voice sounding hesitant. "But I guess I imagined it. I don't smell anything now."

"Well, you got what you were looking for," Georg said. "Come on back to the safehouse.

"I'm on my way," Bill said.

When Bill finally arrived back at the safehouse, he was holding a couple of small devices in one arm. He laid them on the table next to the computer as Georg logged in the successful dare and continued the program.

_"Red has brought back two new pieces of equipment that you will be using in your investigation. The small white device is an EMF meter. This registers energy fluctuations in a specific area. Sudden energy spikes are said to indicate the presence of spectral entities._

_The other device is a digital recorder that is used for recording EVP - electronic voice phenomena, voices and words that can't be heard by the naked ear, but are recognizable once the recording is played back on a computer._

_Dare number two. Yellow will take the EMF meter and proceed to the morgue. Once there, he will thoroughly investigate the entire morgue with the EMF meter, remaining for one hour. Blue will navigate."_

"Ha!" Bill crowed. "You have to go alone!"

Tom rolled his eyes. "If you can do it, I can do it."

Bill gave his brother a sly little smile. "Yeah, but I just had the kitchen. You've got the _morgue_. There's probably a lot more ghosts in a morgue than in a kitchen."

"And if I believed in ghosts that might actually be a problem," Tom said, strapping on the camera harness. "But since I don't..."

"Yeah, you say that now," Bill said, handing his twin the flashlight and EMF meter. "Just wait until you're all alone...in that dark, creepy room...where all those dead bodies used to be."

"Bill?"

"What?"

_"Shut up."_

Bill laughed as Tom turned quickly and walked out the door.

Gustav shook his head as he sat down at the computer. "Tom, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you."

"Ok, you see the door to the building? Go in that door and turn down the hall to your right."

"Going in the door," Tom said. "Shit!"

"What? What happened?" 

"Nothing, nothing," Tom said, sounding embarrassed. "I just tripped."

Gustav relaxed back in his chair in relief. "You be more careful."

"Yeah, yeah. Ok, I'm walking down the hall. How far do I have to go?"

"All the way to the end," Gustav said. "The last door on the left is the morgue."

"Figures." The radio was quiet for a few minutes, then crackled back to life. "Ok, I'm in."

"What do you see?" Gustav asked.

"Umm, tables, some sort of gurney I think. A wall of drawers. You think that's where they kept the bodies?"

"Probably," Gustav said. "Is your meter on?"

"Oh, hell." There was silence for a second. "Ok, now it is."

"Anything registering?"

"Nope," Tom said. "It's just flickering a little bit."

"Tell him to tell us what he's doing," Georg said, and Gustav relayed the request.

"I'm just sort of looking around. Opening the drawers now. Yeah, it looks like that's probably where they kept the bodies before they sent them out. There's a cabinet in here with some really weird stuff in it, like jars and bottles and instruments. Ick. There's also -"

A loud squeal interrupted the monologue. 

"What the hell was that?" Gustav asked quickly.

"Ummm, the meter," Tom said, sounding unnerved. "It just spiked big time."

"What were you doing when it went off?"

"Just, umm, just walking by this table." Tom's voice was shaky and it was obvious he was spooked.

The squeal came again, and everyone in the safehouse exchanged looks. 

"Ok, this is freaking me out. Maybe I should -"

Bill grabbed the radio out of Gustav's hand. "So do you see any ghosts?" he asked, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Maybe you'll see a ghost! Hey, maybe it will be a really hot ghost and you can invite her to our next show."

"Bill, you are so weird." Tom's voice still sounded a little uneven, but it was apparent that Bill's joking had helped. "Ok, still looking around."

The rest of the hour went by uneventfully. Fortunately, the EMF meter didn't react again. Eventually Tom spent a good amount of time digging through the contents of the cabinet he'd seen when he'd first started his explorations and describing things to the others. When the time was up he returned to the safehouse, much calmer than he'd left it.

Gustav logged the success, and the DVD continued.

_"Dare number 3. Green will proceed to the schoolroom. Red will navigate."_

"Ooh, my turn!" Bill clapped and nudged Gustav out of the chair in front of the computer. 

"Just try not to have me walking all the way to the next city, okay?" Georg quipped as he struggled into his camera harness. 

"Please," said Bill. "I'm not the one who always gets lost in strange places."

"That's because you always have a bodyguard with you to read the map for you," Tom said, standing behind the chair and tugging on a lock of his twin's hair. He oofed when a sharp elbow jabbed back into his stomach.

"Ready?" Gustav asked, handing Georg a flashlight. 

Georg grinned. "It's a schoolroom. How bad could it be?" He lowered his voice and leaned closer. "Better than the morgue."

Gustav laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck."

He walked out the door and across the small yard to the back door of the sanatorium. As he walked, he found himself wishing the moon hanging low in the sky was giving off a little more light. The flashlight barely seemed to illuminate anything. He reached the back door and went inside before saying anything. "Ok, I'm inside."

"Ok." Bill's voice sounded strange coming through the headset of the radio. "Turn to your left and walk back to the main entrance."

"On my way." Georg walked down the dark hallway, his footsteps echoing eerily in the silence. He grimaced slightly to himself. If he'd thought it was dark outside, it was nothing compared to the gloom inside the building. "Ok, I'm at the entrance."

"Behind you, just across from the front door, you should see the main staircase. Go up the staircase."

Georg walked to the base of the stairs and looked up into the pitch blackness. "Great. Just great," he said as he started up. The stairs creaked alarmingly beneath his feet and he tried to remind himself that the producers wouldn't have sent them somewhere that was structurally unsound. "Bill, I want you to know, if I fall and break my neck or something, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

Bill's chuckle flowed softly in his ears. "Yeah, okay. Just remember you have to leave when I'm having sex."

"Oh hell no," Georg argued. "What's the point of being a ghost if you're not allowed to be a voyeur?"

"You'll just have to go spy on Tom," Bill said. "He's better entertainment than I am anyway."

Georg grinned at the banter. "Ok, I'm at the top of the stairs."

"Oh, hell, hang on."

"What's wrong?" Georg asked, getting worried. 

"The computer's acting weird," Bill said, sounding frustrated. "It keeps blinking on and off and I can't see the map. Damn piece of garbage. Oh, wait, there it goes. Ok, if you're facing the front of the building, you need to turn to your left and go down the hall. At the end of the hall, it will angle back to the left again."

"Ok, I'm walking." Georg made he way down the long hall that stretched the length of the front of the sanatorium. Many of the rooms he passed no longer had doors, and the wind from the empty window frames blew a chill across the back of his neck. 

About half way down the hall, something caught his eye and he stopped. A shadow seemed to flit from one side of the hall to the other, and Georg felt his heartbeat speed up. "Nothing there, nothing there, nothing there," he muttered to himself. 

"Georg? You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Georg said. "I...I thought I saw something."

"Like what?"

"Just a shadow."

Bill's voice was calmly reassuring. "Lots of shadows in a place like that. It was probably just something from one of those big windows."

"Yeah, you're right," Georg said, taking a deep breath. "Just a cloud over the moon or something." He tried to sound confident, but taking that next step was one of the harder things he'd ever done in his life.

He continued down the hall, stopping only for a moment to shine his flashlight into the room where he'd seen the shadow. It was empty, without even furniture to hide behind. With another breath, he continued walking. "I'm at the part where it turns again."

"Ok, continue down four doors. The fourth door on your right should be the schoolroom."

"Got it." Georg counted the doors under his breath until he reached the fourth. Inside he found a fairly large room filled with scattered desks and tiny chairs. "Ok, I'm in."

"All right. Hang on, I'm supposed to read this to you." Bill paused then, continued, obviously reading from the screen. "Tuberculosis was a disease that respected no age limits. Even children contracted the disease and many were sent to Waverly Hills to recover. 

"While they were there, they were given lessons in reading and math to prepare them for the day when they returned to their regular lives. Unfortunately, for many, that day never came. Legend has it that at least one child has never completely left the halls of Waverly Hills. 

"Green, your dare is to find the leather ball in the schoolroom and roll it around on the floor, encouraging the spirit of Timmy to come out and play with you. Red will inform you when your time is up."

Georg flicked his flashlight around the room. "I don't see a ball."

"Keep looking," Bill said. "It has to be there."

Georg blew out a breath and started walking between the desks, shining his flashlight back and forth. In the far back corner of the room he finally found what he was looking for, a small leather ball about the size of his head. "Ok, I found it." 

He walked over and nudged the ball out of the corner with his toe, kicking it lightly across the back of the room. It bounced lightly against the far wall and came to a stop. Georg looked around the empty room. "Anyone here? Want to come play with me?" 

He walked over to the ball and kicked it again. "Hello? I have a ball. We could play together if you want to. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to play." He walked across the back of the room and tapped the ball. "This feels really stupid, just kicking a ball back and forth by myself."

"Try kicking it somewhere else," Bill suggested. "Maybe he doesn't want to play there."

Georg rolled his eyes and bit back the desire to remind his friend that he didn't _really_ want a ghost to come out and play, but he took Bill's advice and kicked the ball toward the front of the room. It hit the wall and rolled to a stop. Georg sighed and started walking up the aisle between the desks.

Then he froze. 

The ball, which had been completely still, was now rolling down the aisle toward him. It came to rest at the tip of his shoe. "Fuck."

"What? What happened?"

"The ball moved," Georg said faintly. 

"Moved how much?" Bill asked. "Like a couple centimeters?"

"Like half-way back down the length of the room."

There was silence from the radio, then finally Bill cleared his throat. "Maybe the floor is uneven," he suggested hesitantly. 

Georg nodded, even though he knew no one could see him. "Yeah, maybe that's it." He kicked the ball back to the front of the room again, and moved quickly up the aisle before walking to the wall opposite the door to see if it looked like the floor was warped or tilted.

The ball just sat innocuously in its spot. Georg stood still, counting the seconds in his head. When he reached thirty he took a deep, relieved breath. "Must have been a fluke. It's not moving at all now. I guess I must have just..." He trailed off.

"Georg?"

Georg couldn't reply. His blood was pounding so loudly in his ears that he could barely even hear Bill's increasingly worried repetitions of his name. 

The ball, which had been completely still for thirty seconds, was moving again, but this time it was moving at almost a ninety degree angle to the path it had previously taken down the aisle. Once again, it was rolling directly at Georg, stopping only when it rested against his foot. 

"Holy shit," he breathed. 

"Georg, dammit, answer me! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Georg said, completely unsure if he was telling the truth. 

"What happened?"

"The ball moved again. It rolled straight toward me, even though I was in a totally different direction this time." He tapped the ball with the edge of his foot. "It's just a kid, Listing. Get a grip," he muttered to himself. "Even if it's a ghost, it's just a kid." He panned the flashlight around the room again. "Hey, Timmy. Is that you? Guess you haven't gotten to play in a while. Umm, I can play with you. You like playing with the ball? I like playing kick ball too." He kicked the leather ball again, grimacing as it bounced badly off his foot and rocketed off in a completely different direction than he had intended. "I'm not as good at it as my friend Gustav, though."

A sound like a soft giggle caught his attention and he whipped his head around toward the door of the classroom. For a split second he swore he saw a small face peering around the door frame, smiling brightly. He blinked and it was gone.

"Oh my god," he whispered.

"What? Did something else happen?" Bill asked. "Did you see something."

"No," Georg said quietly. "No, I didn't see anything at all."

"Oh. Umm, okay. Well, your time's up. You can come back now."

Georg didn't run. But it was a very close thing.

With Georg's return to the safehouse, the first night of dares was complete. The DVD informed the group that they were free for the day and the dares would begin again at 10:00 pm.

Gustav and the twins immediately curled up in their beds to catch some sleep. Georg slipped between the sheets of his own bed, but his thoughts were still racing frantically. Had he really seen a little boy in that doorway? It must have been his imagination, right? But then what was the explanation for the ball?

Georg rolled onto his other side and stared out the window as the sun slowly crept over the horizon. He heard Gustav's light snores from one side and Bill's soft breathing from the other, but sleep for him was a long time coming.

~~~

When Georg woke up, it was late in the afternoon. He was surprised he'd actually been able to fall asleep at all, considering how wound up he'd been after his dare. He laid on his back, staring at the ceiling and tried not to think about schoolrooms and small ghosts until the sound of a door opening distracted him. 

He sat up and saw Gustav walking into the safehouse. "Hey," he said, voice rough with sleep.

"Hey," Gustav smiled. "Finally awake, huh?"

"Yeah." Georg slipped from the bed and padded over to the table where Gustav was sitting. "How long have you been up?"

"Couple hours," Gustav said. He leaned over and tugged a cooler from beneath the table. "Hungry? It's just sandwiches and bottled water, but it's better than nothing." 

"Sounds good," Georg said, taking a bottle and gulping down a few swallows. "What time is it?"

Gustav handed Georg a sandwich. "Little after five. We still have a few hours before the dares start again."

Georg munched and nodded. "So what have you been doing while we were asleep?"

Gustav shrugged. "I walked around the property for a while, looking at some of the other buildings."

"I thought we weren't supposed to explore during the daytime," Georg said, taking another bite. 

"They said we couldn't go in the main building," Gustav explained. "They didn't say anything about the rest of the place."

"Oh," Georg nodded. "Did you find anything?"

"Not much," Gustav said, leaning back in his chair. "There were a couple places where it looked like there used to be some pretty big buildings, but everything's gone but the foundation. The ones that were still standing didn't look like they were all that safe, so I didn't go in. The countryside is really beautiful. Not a bad place to be sick." He gave Georg a wry smile. "I wouldn't want to die here, though."

Georg laughed, then turned his head as Bill stumbled sleepily up to the table and sank down into a chair. 

"God," Bill grumbled, folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them. "Don't you two know it's rude to talk so loud when someone's trying to sleep?"

Georg nudged Bill's leg with his toe. "You needed to get up anyway," he said. "You want to be completely awake before the dares start, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Bill yawned, then finally seemed to notice the remains of the sandwich in Georg's hand. "Food?"

Gustav pointed at the cooler. "Just sandwiches and water."

Bill wrinkled his nose. "When we get back to the hotel, I'm ordering everything on the room service menu," he declared.

"Room service?" Tom asked, sitting up in his bed and running a hand over his face.

"Not in this place," Bill said. "But if you're really nice to me, I'll bring you breakfast in bed." He waggled a bottle of water at his twin.

The evening passed quickly as the boys ate and discussed their experiences from the night before. They spent a long time talking about the ball rolling in the schoolroom, but Georg was very careful not to mention anything about the small face he thought he'd seen. 

Before long the sun had set and it was time to get started again. 

_"Dare number 4. Blue will take the EVP recorder and investigate the third floor for one hour. Yellow will navigate."_

"Oooh, I'm in control!" Tom grinned widely. "Better be nice to me, or I'll send you down into the Pit of Despair!"

Gustav gave Tom an innocent look. "Aren't I always nice to you?"

The howls of denial and derision from both of the twins had Georg laughing as he helped Gustav into his harness. He handed over a flashlight and the recorder, then turned serious. "You'll be okay?"

Gustav raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I know," Georg said, backing off. "I don't know what's wrong with me." 

"You sure _you're_ all right?" Gustav asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," Georg said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guess this is just getting to me more than I thought it would."

Gustav nodded. "Well, just a few more hours and we're done."

Georg grinned weakly. "Maybe we can convince them to cut this part out, so I don't look like a total pussy." 

Gustav laughed and headed out the door. Once he was gone, Georg turned around and went back to sit at the table next to Tom. 

Fortunately for everyone's nerves, this dare seemed to be the most boring. Gustav spent an hour walking up and down the third floor of the building, poking into rooms and cubbyholes as he found them, but nothing of note happened. 

Still, Georg found himself very relieved when Gustav made it back without incident, although Tom seemed disgruntled.

"How come he gets the easy part?" Tom groused.

"Hey," Gustav defended himself. "Bill just had to go to the kitchen! That was nothing!"

"It wasn't nothing!" Bill said with a frown. "I had to go first, so it was scary just because of that."

Georg started laughing. "You guys are messed up," he said. "Log the dare and let's move on."

_"Dare number 5. Yellow must proceed to the delivery tunnel. Green will navigate."_

"There, see?" Gustav said. "Delivery tunnel. How bad can that be?"

"Hmph." 

Bill helped Tom into his harness while Georg took his place in front of the computer. He waited for Tom to get back in the building, then took up the navigation. "Turn to your right like you're going back to the morgue."

"Oh, geez, that again?" Tom's voice was almost a whine.

"Hmm, sounds like someone didn't get a good nap today," Bill said with a grin. 

"I heard that," Tom said. "Ok, I'm at the morgue. Again."

"Keep going down the hall," Georg told him. "At the very end of the hall there's a tunnel entrance. You're supposed to go about half-way down and then stop."

"I'm here, but how do I know when I've gone half-way?" Tom asked. "Does it say how long the tunnel is?"

"No," Georg said, looking at the map. "I don't know. Count fifty strides. That should be enough."

They heard Tom sigh heavily and start counting. When he reached fifty, he stopped. "Ok, I guess I'm here. Now what?"

"Hold on. I'm supposed to read this." Georg scanned over the words on the screen and felt his stomach drop. Tom definitely wasn't going to like this. "Ok, the tunnel you're in was originally constructed to ship supplies from the railroad spur at the bottom of the hill up to the sanatorium. During bad weather it was also a convenient way for the staff to get to the main building without having to walk in rain or snow. However, when the death toll at the sanatorium began rising it was decided that the tunnel would be a good way to discreetly ship the bodies of the dead down to the bottom of the hill without the patients seeing them. This lead to it gaining the nickname of the Death Tunnel or the Body Chute.

Yellow, your dare is to spend the next four hours in the Death Tunnel in complete radio silence. Any contact with any member of your group will result in forfeiture of the dare."

Georg stopped and the silence stretched out. "You ready, Tom?"

"I'm going to make someone suffer for this," Tom said. "I haven't decided who, but someone is going to beg when I'm done with them."

Georg looked over at Bill expecting a grin, but Bill looked as unhappy as Tom sounded. "Ok, well, umm. You ready?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Then your time starts now." 

As soon as Georg clicked the button indicating Tom had started his dare, the program moved on to the next dare.

_"Dare number 6. Red is to investigate the fourth floor surgery. Blue will navigate."_

Georg let Gustav take his seat and went to help Bill into his harness. The look on Bill's face bothered him. "He's not really mad at you, you know."

"Huh?" Bill blinked in confusion, then his face cleared. "Oh, I know. It's just..." He sighed. "I don't like him being down there with no contact."

Georg tried to give his friend an encouraging smile. "He's a big boy, Bill. He's not afraid of the dark. What could happen?"

"I know. I'm being dumb." Bill shook his head and flashed a bright smile. "Ok, I'm ready." He took the flashlight from Georg's hand and headed out the door. 

Georg walked back over to the table and sat down. "I have to admit, I don't like the no-contact rule either," he muttered as he scooted his chair over next to Gustav's. 

"Yeah," Gustav agreed. "But like you said, what's going to happen? It's just an old building."

Georg nodded, but a feeling of disquiet had settled over him. He admitted, if only to himself, that he would be damned glad when this whole thing was over. He listened with half an ear as Gustav guided Bill up to the fourth floor where the surgical suites were located and talked him through the investigation, but most of his thoughts were on Tom until he heard a loud crash from the radio.

"Bill?" Gustav asked urgently "What was that? Are you okay?"

There was no answer at first, then Bill's voice came back at a whisper. "Fuck. There's someone up here."

"Bill, there's no one else here," Gustav said, keeping his voice calm and reassuring. "It's just us. You probably just saw a shadow."

"No," Bill's voice was barely audible. "I saw someone. It wasn't a shadow, and it wasn't a ghost. There's someone else here."

Georg was glaring at the computer. "How long is he supposed to stay up there?"

Gustav shrugged, looking as worried as Georg felt. "I don't know. It just said to guide him up there. It hasn't said for him to do anything."

"Then tell him to come back. It didn't say a specific time. Tell him to come back now."

"Bill, did you hear that?" Gustav asked. "Come back to the safehouse."

There was a long silence. "Bill? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah." Bill's voice was weak. "I'm coming."

The few minutes that it took for Bill to get back to the safehouse seemed to last for hours, and when he finally walked in the door, he looked terrified. His dark eyes were huge in his pale face as he took the harness off.

"What the hell happened up there?" Georg asked.

Bill rubbed a shaking hand over his mouth. "There was someone up there. I saw someone. Georg, it wasn't a shadow. There's someone else here." He walked over to the table and picked up the radio. "Tom? Tom, answer me."

"Bill, he's not going to answer you," Gustav said. "He forfeits the dare if he answers."

"I don't give a fuck about the dare!" Bill yelled. "Someone's here. There's something going on, something not right, and I WANT MY BROTHER BACK HERE NOW!"

"Whoa, Bill, calm down," Georg placed a careful arm around Bill's trembling shoulders. "Maybe you're right and someone is here, but maybe it's someone from the show's crew? I mean, it could be, right?" He looked to Gustav for support.

Gustav nodded. "Yeah, something could have gone wrong with one of the feeds or something, and they sent someone out to fix it without telling us about it."

"You think so?" Bill seemed to latch on to the explanation desperately. 

"Who else would it be?" Georg asked, rubbing his hand up and down Bill's arm in a comforting motion. "I mean, even if it was a vagrant or some teenager coming to mess around, they were probably more scared of you than you were of them."

"I doubt that," Bill said wryly. He ran his hand through his hair. "So does that mean I forfeited my dare?" 

Gustav shook his head. "It just said to get you up there. It didn't say you had to stay there for any particular length of time. So I guess you're still okay."

Bill nodded but still looked unsettled. 

"Log the dare, and let's see what's next," Georg said. 

Gustav nodded in agreement and clicked a few buttons to indicate that Bill's dare was complete.

_"Dare number 7. Blue is to proceed to room 502 on the fifth floor. Red will navigate._

Bill stared at the computer for a minute, then finally took a deep breath and moved into the chair in front of the monitor. 

"You going to be okay?" Gustav asked. 

Bill nodded and smiled weakly. "Yeah. I won't get you lost."

Gustav gave Bill's shoulder a squeeze before moving to put on the harness. 

"Are _you_ going to be okay?" Georg asked quietly as he helped Gustav set the straps. 

Gustav nodded. "Don't tighten them up too much, though," he whispered, throwing a quick glance over to where Bill was sitting. "If something does happen, I want to be able to get the damned thing off quick."

Georg nodded and loosened the straps again. Then he grabbed Gustav's arm. "You see anything, I mean _anything_ you think isn't right, you come back. Fuck the show and fuck the dares. If you even _think_ you feel something off, you get your ass back here."

"Don't worry," Gustav said. "I'm not going to take any stupid chances."

Georg nodded and watched his friend leave, then went over to the table and listened to Bill give Gustav directions in a much-subdued voice. They were about five minutes into the dare when the computer flickered and then went dead.

"What the hell?" Georg walked around to the back of the computer and started jiggling cords.

"Gustav, hold up," Bill said. "The computer just went down again." He looked at Georg and grimaced. "Why does this always happen when it's my turn to navigate?"

"Maybe the computer doesn't like you," Georg quipped, flicking the on and off button on the box. 

"Yeah, well I don't like it either," Bill said. He banged his hand down hard on the case, but the monitor remained black. "Great, this is just great."

"I guess I could go ahead and go up to the fifth floor and see if I can find the room," Gustav said. 

Georg took the radio from Bill's hand. "But we don't know what you were supposed to do when you got there. What's the point of going all the way there, if you just forfeit the dare because we didn't know what you were supposed to do."

"Well, I could just sit up there and wait to see if the computer comes back on. It would -" Gustav suddenly cut off his sentence with a loud yell. 

"Gustav!"

"Fuck, it's okay, it's okay."

"Damn it, you guys need to quit screaming in your radios," Georg complained. "You're scaring years off my life."

"Sorry," Gustav said sheepishly. "Hang on."

Georg and Bill exchanged a look as they listened to one end of a conversation, both of them wondering who Gustav was talking to. Finally he came back. "Ok, sorry. Umm, I had my cell phone in my pocket and it was set on vibrate, so when it went off, it scared me."

"Wait, how come you got a cell phone?" Georg asked, frowning over at Bill who was starting to fidget and look upset.

"Eric told me to keep it," Gustav said, referring to one of the show's creators. "He said it would be for emergency use only."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Georg said. As he spoke, he watched Bill stand up and start pacing the room. "So who was on the phone?"

"It was Eric. He said the feeds in the entire place have gone down and none of the cameras are working. Must be the same thing that went wrong with the computer. Since there was only supposed to be one more dare after mine, he said they're just going to call it a wrap. We're supposed to pack up and wait out front. They're sending a car for us."

The moment Bill heard those words he snatched the radio out of Georg's hand. "Did you hear that, Tom? The dare's over. Come back to the safehouse." Silence answered him. "Tom? Damn it, quit playing games. This isn't funny, and if you're just messing with my head, I am going to kick your ass. I'm not joking."

Georg took one look at the fear etched on Bill's face and grabbed the radio away from him. "Gustav, meet us down by the tunnel. We're going after Tom." 

He barely had time to grab a flashlight before Bill was out the door. "Bill, wait!" He ran to catch up, and grabbed Bill's arm. "Slow down. You won't help Tom by falling and getting hurt." 

"Something's wrong," Bill said, jerking open the back door of the building. "Something's wrong. I should have made him come back when I first thought someone was in there. Something happened to him."

"Bill, calm down," Georg said, despite the rising worry he felt building in his chest. "Maybe his radio broke. Or maybe he turned it off just to make sure he wouldn't break down and forfeit the dare."

"No," Bill said. "Something's wrong. I can feel it. Something's wrong."

They both jumped when Gustav appeared beside them. "Sorry!" Gustav said, holding up his hands. "It's just me."

They all jogged down the empty hallway to the beginning of the tunnel. Bill started yelling before they even made it to the entrance. "Tom? Tom answer me! Where are you?" 

About half-way down the tunnel Bill suddenly stopped and made a choking noise. 

"Oh, shit," Gustav muttered, pushing past Bill. There on the floor of the tunnel was Tom's harness with the camera and radio still attached.

Of Tom, there was no sign.

"I told you!" Bill yelled. "I told you something was wrong! Oh, god. This is all my fault. Tom! _TOM!_ " Bill's voice rose to a shriek on the last word. 

"Bill, stop it," Gustav said, grabbing Bill by the shoulders and shaking him. "It doesn't mean something happened to him. He could have just gone back to the safehouse and we missed him."

"How!" Bill snapped, almost in tears. "There's no way he could have gotten past us without us seeing him!"

"He might have gone to the end of the tunnel and gone back around the outside instead of going through the building."

As Bill and Gustav argued, Georg felt a weird, creeping sensation crawling up his back. He turned around to look back up the length of the tunnel they'd just descended and felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through him. 

At the top of the tunnel, just out of range of the light from the flashlights, was the figure of a little boy, the same little boy Georg had seen in the schoolroom doorway. This time he wasn't smiling. His face was worried and he was frantically motioning to Georg. 

"Come on," Georg said, starting up the tunnel.

"What?" Gustav said, distracted from his fight with Bill. "Georg, where are you going?" 

"This way," Georg said, not stopping. "I heard something."

The last three words were all he needed to have Bill right on his heels. With a sigh, Gustav followed along. 

"What did you hear?" Bill asked. "Did you hear Tom?"

"Shh!" Georg said, not really because he wanted Bill to be quiet, but more because he didn't want to answer the question. He trotted back down the hall toward the front entrance to the building. When he reached the main stairs, he glanced up and once again saw an anxious little figure beckoning. Without a second thought, he started up the stairs. 

Every time he reached a landing, he continued up, each time following a child that his shrieking mind kept insisting that he could not possibly really be seeing. When he reached the fourth floor, the child disappeared, but this time he really did hear noises - moaning and slurred words.

"Tom!" Bill shouted. "That's Tom!" He raced down the hall to the surgical ward he'd investigated earlier and threw open the door just as Georg came to a stop behind him. 

The sight that greeted them was like something out of a nightmare. Tom was strapped to one of the surgical tables, struggling weakly. Standing next to him and holding a wickedly sharp knife to Tom's throat was another figure. It wasn't a ghost. This one was real and very much alive.

"You!" Bill gasped. 

"Stay where you are," the figure said harshly. "Move and I'll kill him."

"Don't hurt him!" Bill said frantically. "I'm not moving. Just don't hurt him, Jimmy." 

"I don't want to hurt him," Jimmy said. "I want to be good to him. I can love him and make him happy."

"Ok," Bill said, his voice cracking with strain. "I'm sure he'd like that. He doesn't want you to hurt him, though."

"How would you know?" Jimmy snapped. "You ignore him. You leave him in your shadow. You act like he's nothing and you're all that matters. Everything is all about you! How would you know what he wants? You don't even see him!"

"That's not true," Bill said, eyes flickering to Tom's. "Tom's the most important person in my world."

"Lies! All lies!" Jimmy shouted. "He watches you, follows you, does everything to make you happy, and all you care about is yourself. You don't deserve him. I can make him happy. I'll love him more than you ever did."

Georg saw the agony on Bill's face and spoke up. "Jimmy, you just don't understand. Tom is important to all of us. We all love him."

"You weren't supposed to come up here," Jimmy said. "You were supposed to look for him on the first floor then go for help. That would have given me plenty of time to get him down to the car I have down by the train tracks. You weren't supposed to come up here. Why did you come up here?" The man's voice was wavering between angry accusation and pleading whine. 

Gustav, who had remained slightly to the side of the doorway, leaned closer to Georg and whispered, "Try to keep him distracted. I'm going to go through the other door and see if I can get close without him noticing me."

Georg let his head move in a minuscule nod of acknowledgment, then turned his attention back to the man holding his friend captive. "He had to come up here, Jimmy," Georg said, answering the question Bill couldn't. "They're twins. Bill always knows when something is wrong with Tom, just like Tom always knows when something is wrong with Bill." He slipped through the door and walked around the edge of the room, hoping to get Jimmy to turn enough that his back would be facing the other door to the suite. 

"Stop!" Jimmy yelled, pressing the knife harder against Tom's throat. 

"Fuck, stop, Georg," Bill said, almost sobbing. 

Georg froze and held his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. I'm not moving any more. I'll just stand right here, okay? I just want to see Tom better. I want to know that he's okay."

Jimmy seemed to relax slightly and pulled the knife away from Tom's throat. "I'm sorry, baby," he cooed softly as he brushed a gentle hand over Tom's hair. "I didn't mean to scare you. You know I don't want to hurt you unless I have to."

Tom made a choked little sound of revulsion and Georg's heart twisted hard. In the glint of his flashlight Georg saw a small tear leak from the corner of Tom's eye and trail down his temple.

"I'm sorry, Tom," Bill whispered. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I love you."

"Shut up!" Jimmy screamed. "Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup! You don't love him. You use him! He deserves better than you. He deserves me! I'm better than you. I'll worship him. I'll treat him like a god, instead of like dirt the way you do."

"I do love him," Bill insisted quietly as a tear slid down his cheek. "I love him more than anything."

"Liar. But that's okay," Jimmy said, a twisted smile on his face. "Spout your lies. He won't believe them anymore. Soon he'll be with me and you'll be far away. I'll take him where you'll never find him and it will just be me and him forever." He stroked Tom's face again. "Just us, baby. Won't that be nice?"

"It's okay Tom," Bill said, his voice suddenly calm. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise." 

Jimmy looked up in confusion, surprised by the sudden acceptance from his nemesis. But before he could question it, Gustav appeared out of nowhere and launched himself over a table and straight into Jimmy's back. 

The minute Jimmy went down, Bill was across the room and struggling with the straps holding Tom to the table. 

Georg ignored the twins, throwing himself on top of the pair struggling on the floor and grabbing Jimmy's arm just as he was about to plunge the knife deep into Gustav's chest. 

Georg flipped his weight backwards, pulling a struggling Jimmy with him. "The knife!" he yelled to Gustav. "Get the knife!" 

Gustav squirmed around, trying to get the blade away from Jimmy as Georg tried to hold him down, but with an inhuman burst of strength, Jimmy twisted hard and pushed Georg off. He rolled quickly to his feet and stood in front of an empty window with the knife blade flashing in the moonlight. 

"No!" he wailed as he caught sight of Bill helping his twin off the table. "He's mine! I need him!"

"You can't have him." Bill's voice was low and vicious as he held his brother close. "And if you touch him again, I'll kill you."

"No," Jimmy said furiously. "He's mine. Mine. If I can't have him, no one will have him!" He started forward, the knife held high, but in his madness he seemed to completely forget about Georg and Gustav. 

It took one quickly exchanged glance between the two best friends for the plan to be hatched. Georg leaped forward and shoved, just as Gustav kicked Jimmy's knees from behind. Jimmy stumbled backwards, flailing for balance, then with a loud shriek he toppled from the window. Georg cringed as the shriek was suddenly cut off with a loud thump. 

"Come on," Gustav said, walking over to where Tom was struggling to stand. "Let's get the hell out of here."

~~~

It was almost 4 am by the time Georg made it back to his hotel room. Tom had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital and Bill absolutely refused to leave his side. Georg and Gustav had remained long enough to hear that Tom wasn't in any immediate danger, then they'd spent an hour talking to the police and explaining the body in front of the Sanatorium.

Once he'd gotten back to his room, Georg had taken a long shower, hoping the heat from the water would wash away some of the tension and stress. Unfortunately it didn't seem to help. Just the thought of trying to turn off the light and lay down in the darkness was enough to send shivers up Georg's spine.

He walked over to the window and stared out at the dark. He'd seen things tonight that he couldn't remotely explain. He didn't even know where to begin. He wanted to believe that his own imagination had conjured up the ghost that had led him to Tom, but there was a small part of his mind that refused to accept that.

A quiet knock distracted him from his thoughts. Crossing the room he opened the door to find Gustav standing in the hall, hands shoved deeply into his pockets. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?" he asked, standing aside.

Gustav walked in and sat down on the end of the bed. "Too wound up, I guess."

"Hmm." Georg locked the door and returned to standing by the window. "Have you heard anything more about Tom?"

"Yeah, David called a few minutes ago," Gustav said. "They said the sedative he was given made him sleepy, but it wasn't dangerous. They're going to keep him there for the next 24 hours, just to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to it, but he should be fine."

"Bill still there?" Georg asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Of course. You know he'd never leave Tom's side after something like this."

"Yeah." Georg was quiet as he stared out the window at the faintly brightening sky. 

"Georg?"

"Hmm?" 

"How did you know?"

Georg turned his attention back to Gustav. "How did I know what?"

Gustav was giving his friend a piercing look. "How did you know where we'd find Tom?" 

"I told you, I heard -"

"Georg," Gustav interrupted. "He was on the fourth floor. We were on the first. There's no way you heard anything."

Georg sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I might."

Georg laughed softly, but the sound had no humor in it. "Gus, I'm not sure _I_ believe it, and to be honest, I think I'd like to just forget the whole thing." He leaned back against the window frame crossing his arms over his chest and looked over to where Gustav was sitting. The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement when he caught Gustav in the middle of a huge yawn. "Tired after all?"

"No, I'm fine," Gustav insisted. 

The twitch grew stronger. "Want to sleep here?"

"God, I thought you'd never ask," Gustav said, tugging his shirt over his head and toeing off his shoes. 

The twitch became a full-blown grin. "Ok, but if you hog the blankets, I'm kicking you out."

"Yeah, whatever. Just try not to wake up the whole floor with your snoring," Gustav said as he slipped between the sheets. He curled up on his side and looked at Georg again. "It's not because I'm scared."

"Of course not," Georg agreed, still grinning. 

"I'm not," Gustav insisted. "I just..." He sighed. "I just feel better if I can see you and know you're okay," he said quietly. "I'd feel even better if the twins were here, too."

"Yeah," Georg's grin faded. "Me too." He turned his head back to the window just in time to see the first bright rays of morning breaking over the horizon. A feeling of relief that he couldn't explain washed through him, followed by a bone-deep weariness. 

Without a word, he stripped off his clothes and slid into the bed next to his best friend. Thoughts of ghosts and psychos and knives faded away with the dawn and within moments he was asleep.


End file.
